


Like Home

by santanico



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Safe Haven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 17:59:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/santanico/pseuds/santanico
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper/Natasha, "safe spaces"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Home

**Author's Note:**

> for erika for femslash february

Pepper rents a quiet but expensive apartment in the summertime, mostly stays there when Tony is out of town - which he often is - and pays for it leisurely. It isn’t as if she can’t afford it.

It’s one bedroom but the kitchen is expansive, and Pepper likes the smell and touch of the oak table, how it feels beneath her fingertips. She spends mornings folded up on the couch with the TV on low volume, watching the news or listening to a public television as she reads. New York is busy but she can leave her window open and look out at the buildings, and it’s peaceful.

On the rare occasion, Natasha will use her key and slide in, just as quietly as a breeze. It’s never really a surprise to Pepper, and she doesn’t mind at all, standing and smiling as Natasha’s gaze drifts into the kitchen.

“You hungry?” Pepper asks and Natasha just nods, setting her bag down on the couch. She tugs her dress down her thighs, fabric sticking to skin, brushing red hair away from her face and letting out a huff of breath. “Breakfast?” Pepper asks, humming to herself as she digs through the freezer, looking for waffles.

“Whatever you have is fine. Thank you.”

Pepper likes this. She was never much of a cook, and she never liked taking care of people - but with Natasha it’s different. Natasha gives as much as she gets, kisses like she means it and offers to help pay the rent every time she spends the night. Pepper always says no, that it isn’t a problem.

And it isn’t. In any case, Pepper considers it a privilege to have Natasha in her home.

“So freezer waffles are good? I have butter and syrup.”

“Of course.”

Pepper smiles. It’s always kind of funny to her to see Natasha eating food she sticks in the microwave or a toaster, and as she puts four pieces of waffle into the toaster and pushes the handle down, she imagines Natasha’s mouth tasting sort of syrupy after.

It’s a nice thought. She hopes she gets to find out if it’s as good as she’s imagining.

Five minutes later, Pepper sets two plates down on the kitchen table and puts two waffles on each. She grabs the syrup from the cupboard and the butter from the counter and sets them down as well. Natasha gets up slowly and then settles in her seat - Pepper would describe it as gracefully - before grabbing the butter and using her knife to take a slab.

It’s Pepper’s turn to watch, and Natasha eats slowly but she seems to focus on it.

“This is good,” she mumbles through a mouthful and Pepper laughs.

“Good.”

The silence is comfortable, as it should be.

It took Pepper a few months, but she’s figured it out - Natasha doesn’t come here because it’s a nice apartment or because she wants anything. She comes here because it’s safe, and it will protect her, and it isn’t lonely.

“You can stay here as long as you like,” Pepper muses as she puts away her plate. Natasha follows her and they bump into each other at the dishwasher. “Oh. Sorry.” Pepper smiles and Natasha smiles back and leans in, lean fingers gripping Pepper’s waist. It’s a sort of funny picture, or at least Pepper imagines it would probably be hilarious to anyone else if they could see her right now - Natasha in black tights and a black dress that clings to her frame, hair loose and red and fingernails painted to match - and then there’s Pepper, in cut off shorts that used to be sweatpants and bare feet, a loose t-shirt and no bra, hair pulled up into a loose ponytail.

Natasha changes that.

Natasha changes everything.

(The kiss tastes even better than Pepper thought it might.)


End file.
